


slow and steady

by uncoollove



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, always fluff bc i cant write anything else lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-03-30 14:19:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13953396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uncoollove/pseuds/uncoollove
Summary: Barry and Iris being nauseatingly cute because when aren't they?just some short drabbles for ya





	1. all of your pieces

**Author's Note:**

> set somewhere around 4x01

Barry moves his hands from Iris’s face and towards her hair. He lightly runs his fingers through the ends. 

It’s short, in a cute-shoulder-length-kinda-way short. It’s now only really hitting him that he’s been gone for a whole six months. Things changed, one of them being Iris’s hair.

“I really love the short hair.”

She grins, “Oh you do? What exactly do you love about it?”

“Well let’s see,” he pauses for a second, smiles his Iris smile, then continues, “I love the way it frames your beautiful face.” He finishes the compliment with a kiss on her cheek.

“I love the way it makes you look even more elegant. Which by the way is impossible. You’re literally an angel.”

She giggles. She hasn’t felt this lighthearted and genuinely happy since he left on that terrible May night.

He kisses her other cheek, ”I love the way it somehow makes you look like a freaking badass, who could most definitely kick my ass.”

She shakes her head in agreeance with a light chuckle. Iris likes that one. She’s been kicking ass every day in Star Labs and at CCPN. Iris likes to think of herself as a multi-tasking queen. 

Barry pecks her forehead, then her chin, her nose, and lands on her lips, “Basically I just love everything about you and this new hair is really doing it for me. I could possibly go on for the next few hours.”

Iris’s heart clenches and her stomach does a little flip. She has no words for how he makes her feel. More than 15 years of friendship and enduring love is hard to define in simple words, especially for a writer of her talent.

“Barry freaking Allen, you’re too much. You’re my extra ass fiancé. And my whole heart.”

“Your extra ass fiancé huh?” 

“Yeah. I mean you did just go on and on about how much you love me and my hair so-“

He cuts her off with a kiss for the ages, the kind that teenage Iris would gossip about to her friends at lunch.

A little star struck Iris whispers, “Whoa.”

“I missed you and your mile-a-minute wit like hell Iris West.”

Iris looks at Barry with as much love as she can fathom and answers just as poetically, “I know I’ve already said it but thank you for coming back to me. Living six months without you was kinda like living without half a heart.”

“I’ll always come back to you. Always always always,” he emphasizes. 

And no matter what change came or what unfortunate, harrowing matters the world threw at their way, that one statement would stay true. _Always._


	2. these arms were made for holding you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a frustrated, pregnant iris craving brownies

“UGH,” pure frustration just pours out of Iris. She’s five months pregnant with twin speedsters and at this moment she really kinda hates her life. All she wants to do is get the mixing bowl that’s way out of reach for her 5’4 stature. But brownies are the only thing on her mind and she’s determined to feed this craving.

And exactly when she’s reaching the furthest her arm can extend, someone from behind reaches even further and gets the bowl. She grins, it’s Barry. He must’ve came in when she wasn’t looking.

She turns around and he’s got a smug look on his face that she wants to kiss, “I always forget how tiny you are.”

Never mind no kiss. Actually, if she wasn’t so pregnant she would’ve tackled him but she settles for a solid punch on the shoulder, “You are a goddamn liar. Sorry, we all can’t be six feet giants with a mile-long wingspan.”

His smile grows into a chuckle, Iris has always been a little sensitive about height. Ever since he outgrew her around 12, she vowed to everyone she would catch up. Years passed, they went from middle school to high school then high school to college. He landed to be around six feet and well, she was significantly shorter at 5’4. 

“I know this is a sensitive topic for you, I’ll stop if you can’t handle it,” he teases some more.

“You know Bartholomew, you have some nerve teasing me about my height when you impregnated me with TWINS and not even normal twins. _Speedster twins_ ,” she quips.

He responds quickly. “Okay you’re 100 percent right I’m done,” raising his arms up in surrender. “To make up for the unnecessary teasing how about letting me help with the brownies?” 

It’s really hard not to smile at him, like extremely hard, so she smiles. And obviously, she lets him help. 

Brownies are a go-to staple in the West-Allen household. Barry and Iris both have got the recipe memorized to a tee. In absolute synchronicity, they whip everything into shape and finally put the two pans in the oven for 25 minutes. 

Before Barry walks to the couch, suddenly Iris wraps her arms around him in a tight embrace. She’s super needy these days and he’s the remedy for it, the person she has always needed. She lies her head on his chest, perfectly aligned with his heart. She can hear the steady beat and it gives her a sense of stillness. In turn, she lets out a much-needed sigh of relief. 

The entire apartment is filled with silence and the smell of the warm gooey brownies still baking. Neither of them say anything. The silence could speak louder than any words they could utter. Barry instinctively knows Iris loves their height difference, even though she’d never admit it. And Iris loves that she can simply lay her head on his heart and hear him be present with her in this moment. 

After a minute of that stillness, they somehow end up on their couch, wrapped in each other. Barry is basically Iris’s human pillow, and he absolutely loves it. Her head lies on his chest again, and she thinks this is exactly why she loves being so small. He can so easily wrap himself around her, safe is the only word that comes to her mind. Ever since they were kids before all the weight of the world surrounding them, he made her feel safe. 

Barry is comfort to Iris. She thinks my god this comparison is so bad but he’s like the brownies she loves so much. He symbolizes everything warm, soft, and good in the world. 

Iris breaks the comfortable silence. “Babe, can you time travel 15 minutes from now so these freaking brownies can be done?”

Barry can’t help but laugh, a good hearty laugh that fills Iris’s entire body with such joy. “I freaking love the shit out of you, you know,” he says like she’s cured cancer or solved world hunger or something. 

“Ugh, so what you’re saying is you’re not gonna time travel to give me my brownies?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”


	3. somebody to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> barry prompts iris to tell him a secret, or secret adjacent

Iris has the urge to give Barry a good punch on the shoulder. He’s been tossing and turning for a solid 20 minutes and do you know how distracting that is when you’re on deadline and have to get a front-page story in at exactly 12 am. 

Finally, he turns directly to her and huffs out a deep, tired sigh. She thinks same, but she can’t go there. She’s gonna persevere through the tiredness and she also can’t let her cute sleep-deprived husband distract her. She knows she’s inevitably doomed.

Barry finally opens his eyes, “I can’t sleep.”

“You don’t say? You’ve been rolling around like a dog for the better half of 20 minutes.” She smirks.

He shyly replies, “I’m sorry, I know you have that big article due really soon.”

“It’s okay, I’m mostly to blame. I could’ve gone downstairs but I got lazy and you’re cute when you can’t sleep.”

“Wait, I thought I was cute all the time?” 

“Nah, just when you’re sleep-deprived.”

“Noted,” he smiles at her, when isn’t he smiling at her. 

She turns her focus back to the article, and he grabs a book so he can be less distracting. For a solid hour, all that can be heard in their room was Iris’s fingers hitting her keyboard at an exceptionally fast rate. The words were flowing so easily, that before she knew it she had finished the article and it was ready to be submitted to her editor. 

When all is done, she closes her laptop and sets it down on her nightstand, ready to get in a good eight hours. She knew Barry was waiting for her to finish the article so when she sinks further into their bed, he sets the book down and does the same.

They’re face to face and Barry says, “Tell me a secret?”

“Babe, you know all my secrets. We’ve been best friends for like 20 years.”

20 fucking years, that’s longer than most people have been married. It’s a ridiculous amount of time but it’s so special.

“Yeah, you’re right. We kinda rock don’t we?”

She laughs, it’s a quiet one though, “Hell yeah we do.”

“Okay so how about secret adjacent? Like close to one but not really one. It could be something I already know.”

“Hmmm okay let me think.” She takes a second and thinks. They know quite possibly everything about each other. Some people might think it’s strange to be this close to someone, but Barry is all Iris has ever known. He’s always been there. He was just a fact of her life. 

The one thing they tend to never really mention is Eddie. Yes, they mention him in the general sense that he was Iris’s boyfriend/semi-fiancé before he literally killed himself to save everyone about four years ago. But never in the sense that Iris was in love with Eddie and Barry at the same time kind of thing. she knew this one would be hard to explain but he did ask for a secret she guesses..?

“Okay, I’m ready. And disclaimer, you asked for this so here I go.”

He shakes his head to signal she could start.

She takes a deep breath out and begins, “I don’t know if you already knew this or not but I’ve been thinking about the past recently. And for the better half of two years now, you’ve made me the happiest person in the world. I mean we’ve literally stared down death so many times and in the midst of all that shit, we’re still us and just genuinely happy. And because we face so much crap every day I wonder if we hadn’t been so oblivious, that if I hadn’t been so oblivious, we could’ve gotten together much sooner...I know that if you weren’t in that long ass, horrendous coma. I would’ve never said yes to going out with Eddie,” she takes a break to see his reaction.

His eyebrows lift a little in surprise but his face goes back to the stoic understanding look he had a few seconds earlier. He doesn’t say anything though, she realizes he wants her to continue. So, she does.

“I know Eddie is something we talk but don’t really talk about because anything that isn’t about us just doesn’t hold any weight anymore but...that’s my secret I guess. It doesn’t mean I didn’t love Eddie because I did, but it’s much different now because I have you. I’ve always had you. I just didn’t see it or want to see it.”

She stops for a few seconds waiting for a response from him. The silence is kinda awkward, she nervously breaks it, “So? have all your opinions about me changed? Am I a horrible person for saying that about my dead ex-fiancé?”

He moves his hand from under the comforter and begins softly brushing her cheek to calm her down a bit. He responds, “Absolutely not, Iris West-Allen you are one of the best people I know, actually THE best person. Nothing you could ever say would change that. I loved you then, I love you now.”

A wave of relief courses through her body, she moved closer to him and gently kisses him and he kisses back. 

Barry breaks the silence this time, “But I’m glad we happened the way that we did. As much as it hurt going through a literal coma and then seeing you with someone else. And all the grief we’ve both been through over the past four years. I’m happy that we somehow always found our way back to each other. I’ve never doubted that for a second.”

She pauses and says with a straight face, “Have you ever thought about being a writer because DAMN you’re poetic. I mean wow you really blew my mind with that one.”

He laughs, like really hard. God, he loves her. She’s smiling really hard too and all he can think is damn I could look at her smile forever. 

“The corniest!”

He questions, ”What? Did I say that out loud?”

“Yeah,” she scrunches her nose, “You kinda did.”

She leans in for a kiss because I mean how could she not. He’s hers and just like Writer!Barry said she’s never doubted that for a second.


	4. i will be your remedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> barry and iris just spend the day being Barry and Iris™️
> 
> post 4x13

Barry and Iris are busybodies, they have to be. They both have mentally and physically tasking jobs. Iris with reporting and being team leader and Barry just recently reinstated as CSI and obviously but secretly, being the Flash. So, for better or worse they got a lot of shit going on at all times. 

But today they decided to take some time for themselves. After Barry’s release from prison, everything has been non-stop go go go for a good two weeks and they haven’t had time to just be them. 

It’s not that there’s been a disconnect but they haven’t really had their Barry and Iris time in a while. Neither of them brings it up because the fact that Barry’s home instead of serving an extremely daunting prison sentence is a blessing in its own right.  

So, they’re taking today to just be. And relaxation begins with binge-watching. And binge-watching means Iris gets to pick the show because she likes to think her taste in television is impeccable compared to Barry’s lack of knowledge to anything other than Game of Thrones. They start with Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Because if Iris is being completely hundred percent honest, Andy Samberg is definitely like number two on her list. And Barry knows this.

“Ahhhh Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Let’s be completely candid here if Andy Samberg came barreling in here asking you to run away with him. Your response would be?”

Iris stumbles a bit, but only on purpose to push his buttons a smidge, okay maybe more than a smidge. She thinks jealous Barry is hot, sue her! “...Obviously, because I’m _married_ ,” she emphasizes. “I’d tell Andy Samberg to fuck off.”

“That took you way too long to answer. I’m out of here,” he says while lifting her legs off of him to get up from the couch.

Iris giggles and pulls him back to his designated spot, right next to her. “Where do you think you’re going? If I remember correctly, you once told me you have a little crush on him too?”

“I can’t help the fact that the man is both handsome and brilliantly hilarious.”

“Okay, so it’s settled. We both, together, run away with Andy Samberg because he’s Andy Samberg.”

“The entire Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast better be there too.”

She smiles, “Oh yeah, that’s a given.”

* * *

They started and finished season three in that day. The only time they ever get up was to get food, use the bathroom and quickly answer texts/phone calls related to Flash business. They can’t just _not_ save the city all day. Wally, Cisco, and Caitlin got a handle on it but the West-Allen’s are always the go-to. 

After a long day of absolutely doing nothing but absorbing countless hours of Jake Peralta and Co., Barry and Iris feel like themselves again. They laughed and that’s exactly what they were missing. And now it was time to sleep because god knows they need it.

In bed, they’re comfortably embraced in each other. Iris has her head resting on Barry’s chest, while he has his arm wrapped around her, and their legs intertwined. Nothing could pull them apart in this moment, they were magnets. 

It felt so good to be this close to each other again. To feel like nothing could ever take him away from her. But Iris knows that’s a naive thought. It’s depressing but sometimes she wonders, as much as she knows it in her bones that their love is indestructible, she terrified it’s destined to be tragic. That somehow, she’s destined to lose him and then, in turn, lose herself. 

She’s pulled right out of her thoughts when Barry can sense the weight on her mind, “What’s going on in that big beautiful brain of yours?”

She tries to play off her insecurities, “How do you know that there’s something wrong?”

“Cause you wreak of anxiety.”

She scoffs, “I do not!”

“Uh yeah, you do. C’mon just tell me, I’ve had a feeling for weeks that there’s something weighing you down,” he kisses her forehead in reassurance.

She really doesn’t want to ruin the end of their perfectly blissful day with her anxiety induced worries. But she guesses that this is exactly what marriage is. Sharing all your fears and burdens with the person you trust with everything you have, including your heart.

He’s waiting for an answer and he’s a little nervous. They’ve been through hell again and he doesn’t know how many more times he can put her through that. It would be too much to ask from anyone. To be there every single step of the way, good and bad. But Iris isn’t just anyone. She’s incredibly resilient, always has been. 

She blurts out, “I’m afraid. I’m afraid that I’m destined to lose you. That we are destined to be this awful, sad and ultimately tragic love story. How many more times are we going to be ripped away from each other before it sticks?” Her eyes are glistening like she’s on the verge of tears.

Barry thinks he can hear his own heartbreak at her spilled secret. He knew the burden of their lives would someday affect her and it pains him that not even a few months of marriage has caused her this much anxiety and worry. He knows he has to nip this in the bud. 

Barry sits up a little so he can look her directly in the eyes. He wants to be the strength she’s been lacking because of her fears. “I know how difficult seeing me locked way has been. You had to start imagining a future of forever without me for what seems like the hundredth time. But I’m out now and we’re here, together. Iris, I want you to know that no matter how bad things ever get, you have always been the light guiding me back. You are literally my everything. And as much as I want to promise you that I’ll always be here, I don’t think I can. But we can’t live in fear of what’s going to happen six months from now, 5 years, or even in 20 years. I just know without one single bit of hesitation that I love you so much sometimes my heart can’t even take it and in the end, I have a strong feeling everything will be okay,” he finishes and not even a second after she connects her lips to his in an ardent need.

He’s kind of in a haze when she pulls away. “You have a magical kind of god-like way with words. I think I just fell even more in love with you if that’s even possible,” she says softly like it’s a secret only made for their ears.

He moves his hand to gently cup her cheek. It takes him a second before he can coherently respond. “Well, you have to give yourself the credit because you inspire me, Iris.”

He’s probably gushing too much about her but he can’t help it, she’s the embodiment of beauty and grace. He doesn’t understand how he got to be here, got to be hers.

She can feel the love in her heart bursting and all she can say is, “Thank you.”

He questions, “For what?”

“You literally just washed away all the doubts and fears I’ve ever had about us in seconds. You found the strength I didn’t have and somehow gave it back to me. So, thank you for being everything I have ever needed,” she finishes with a big bright smile.

That smile is exactly what Barry wanted to see. When she’s happy, he swears the world instantly becomes more vibrant. 

He kisses her not once, not twice, but three times with the same fire she expressed not even a minute ago. 

They returned to their previous magnet like position, they lay in silence before Iris asks, “Babe, you don’t think the team burned the city down do you?”

“Nah, I think they did just fine without us. And you know what that means right?”

“No, what does it mean?”

“We can have more ‘us’ days. No Flash, no work, just us doing everything or absolutely nothing,” he proposes.

She’s drawing circles on his chest when she grins and says, “I like the sound of that.”

“Me too.”

They fall asleep within minutes and dream of the future numerous stressful, magical, and surprising days they will have. And every day will be spent together. Always together.


	5. you're the only one i needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sick!fic

Iris never gets sick. She likes to pride herself on having a good immune system. But in that once in a blue moon occasion that she does, it’s hell. Horrendous, unpleasant, and borderline traumatic. Okay, yes, she also extremely dramatic whilst sick. So here she was, laying on the living room couch in a ridiculous number of layers, used, scrunched up tissues all around her, hair up, and dying in every sense of the word.

Within a split second yellow lightning appears: Barry. He’s in hand with home cooked soup from her dad, which always made her feel better.

He sets down the soup and begins dishing it out for his flu infected wife. “You know you look super cute right now?”

She groans. Which hurts her sore throat even more. She replies in her stuffy voice, “I absolutely do not.”

He hands her soup, kisses her forehead and says, “I’m serious, you’ve never been cuter. All the blankets and tissues you’re wrapped in, adorable. I swear, since the what? The two years we’ve been together you’ve never been this sick.”

“Babe, I look and feel like shit right now I do not, under any circumstances look cute.”

“Alright okay.” He lifts his hands up in surrender and replies in utter sarcasm, “you look terrible. The _worst_ looking person I’ve ever seen.”

She grins and grabs the nearest pillow and chucks it at him. 

“You’re too kind to me Barry Allen, too kind.”

He gets up from the couch next to her and says, “scooch over.” 

She raises her right brow in question. “Are you sure you wanna tread next to flu infested waters?”

He grins, “I love you more than you think.” He plops down right next to her and taps his own shoulder, hinting that she lay her head on it. She does and releases a deep breath too.

He’s stroking her arm when he says, “you know, you’re always so strong. I like seeing you vulnerable like this.”

“So, what you’re saying is you’ve got a thing for sick me? That’s kinda weird babe.”

He laughs, she’s too witty for his own good. She feels the vibration of his hearty laugh all the way down to her toes.

“Well, I have a thing for you in general. So that would include you in all your 101-fever glory.”

“Good answer,” she smiles.

Barry takes a pause and answers more clearly. “I guess what I meant is that I like that you need me.” 

“I’ve always needed you, babe,” she says like a fact. Like it’s written in stars and completely and utterly irreversible.

“I’ll always need you too,” he replies with the same weight.

Iris’s heart flutters at his statement. This fever sucked. It sucked almost as much as Iris’s prophesied and impending death last year. Okay, _yes_ , she’s back at it with the dramatics. But Barry, her sweet Barry, makes everything better and brighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this turned out shitty and short cause i havent written in like 3 weeks and i didnt know how to end it but im posting it anyways


	6. you are my favorite thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> post 4x19

As life-shattering as his parents death was, every death he’s experienced after hasn’t gotten easier. You’d think after so much death in his life he’d get used to the grief. The constant stream of losing loved ones and people you’ve only recently gotten to know, will never get easier but he’s learning how to handle grief in healthier ways. And that’s all because of Iris.

Through it all, Barry’s had Iris. She’s never left and never once given up on him and for that he’s so grateful.

He looks over at her and a faint smile appears on his face, just cause.

She’s so beautiful. Sometimes, well all the time, he just likes to stare and appreciate the living, breathing art that is the love of his life.

Barry never wants to be the kind of guy that takes advantage of her goodness. He never wants to be that kind of husband, _not ever_.

“Hey Iris?”

“Mmhmm,” she responds, distracted by her laptop, most likely working on her blog.

He walks over to the couch she sprawled on, lifts her legs, sits down and sets them on his lap.

He’s staring at her for a bit when finally she closes her laptop, looks up at him and breaks the silence. She says with a gentle smile, “what?” 

He doesn’t answer quick enough so she questions, “do I have something on my face?” Semi frantically wiping away any possible imperfections.

“No,” Barry interrupts with a laugh and gently grabs her hands and begins delicately playing with them.

“Okay then why the look?” Her brows furrow.

Barry pauses again, he wanted this to be as heartfelt as he could make it. “I don’t know...I just, I wanted to tell you how lost I’d be without you and how much I appreciate and value you. I don’t want you ever to think otherwise.” He responds firmly with a peck on her soft hand.

Iris smiles her radiant, full smile and slightly tilts her head in endearment. “I know.”

“I know you know, I just needed you to hear it. There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not in complete awe of you.” He chuckles when he says this, “I mean you took a damn katana in the shoulder for me. If that’s not badass, I don’t know what is.”

She laughs pretty hard at that. He’s so damn swoon worthy sometimes. “I guess I am a badass huh?” she says nonchalantly.

“And I love you all the more for it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since the fandom is on heavy drugs these days i thought id give a go at a missing scene that i know i wouldve loved to see in canon...


	7. we're collecting moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> last scene of 4x23

“And I think I made a big, _big_ mistake.”

Absolute shock coursed through Iris’s veins. At this point in her life after all the insane shit they’ve been through she shouldn’t even be surprised that her future daughter, half Barry half herself, was standing there, flesh and bone, in her childhood home. Literally, seconds after she was discussing the beautiful future she imagined for herself and Barry, a future that had always included children. 

God, Nora looked strikingly too much like them. She had Iris’s same deep eyes with hues of Barry’s green. She had her strong jawline and radiant smile and Barry’s nervous word vomit and jitteriness. It was eerie. She was their child. From the future. And it was apparent Nora got the mess-up-the-timeline gene from the one and only Barry Allen. Iris didn’t know that one was genetic.

Iris started laughing, it was a nervous one too. In unison, everyone turned their heads to her. Their stares made her straightened her posture and clear her throat. “Barry can I talk to you for a second. In private.”

Her lanky husband was stuck in a still like position. Just a second ago he was a rambling mess about a conversation about kids and now their full grown adult daughter was here, Nora seemed to be another rambling mess. “ _Barry_ ,” Iris said sharply. His eyes glazed over Nora to Iris and he finally moved, trailing Iris from behind into the kitchen.

As soon as they both got to the kitchen, away from nosy Team Flash, she punched his arm. “This is your fault!”

“First of all, ouch. Second of all, how is this my fault?”

“Our ‘daughter’,” she air quoted, “is a time-traveling speedster! I guess messing up the timeline is genetic!” 

“Point taken, but let’s not forget you just mentioned kids and suddenly our future daughter literally knocks on our door! She's half us, we’re equally to blame.”

Iris exasperatedly rolled her eyes. All she has ever asked for was normal people problems. “God, babe what are we going to do?” She hid her face in her hands.

Barry did what he has always does best, comfort Iris. He caressed her arms and pulled her hands away from her face. “Hey,” he said soothingly. “Look at me,” gently lifting her chin up. “We’re going to go out there and do what we always do. We have to hear her out and face everything as it comes, okay?”

Her face softened, and she warmly half-smiled at him and he her. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

They walked out of the kitchen, hand in hand, ready to face their future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short lil reaction to our CHILD nora's reveal. hope yall liked it.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed it! leave me a comment if you'd like!


End file.
